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John C. Calhoun

John C. Calhoun (1782-1850) was the vice president of the United States from 1825-32 under presidents John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, as well as Secretary of State, Secretary of War, a U.S. congressman, and a South Carolina state representative. Calhoun championed states' rights issues, chiefly "nullification," an argument that a state could choose to ignore federal laws it deemed unconstitutional.